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- The worldwide population in the circumpolar arctic: 10-20,000
- The Alaska population: 3,000 to 5,000
- Adult males grow to a weight of 550 to 1,700 lbs and measure 8 to 10 feet
from nose to tail. Adult females weigh 200 to 700 lbs, measure 6 - 8 feet.
- Bears are helpless at birth and weigh 1.3 lbs avg. Cubs stay with mother
for about 2.5 years Polar bears reproductive rate is one of the slowest of any
mammal
- March to May is breeding season. Females have first litter at 5 or 6 years
of age.
- Summer: bears drift with the shifting ice pack and follow ice edge from
nearshore to 125 miles offshore
- Autumn - bears move south with advancing ice pack Pregnant bears enter
dens in late October or November
- Cubs are born in late December or early January Family groups remain in
dens until late March or early April
- Same snow dens are used repeatedly (not so much in the Beaufort as other
areas) BUT females sometimes even return to the dens they were born in.
- In the Beaufort Sea, 53 % of the dens are on pack ice, 47 % on land. The
highest concentration of land dens is on the coast of the Wildlife Refuge
Unstable ice conditions can lead to the abandoning of dens
- Bears denning on land have more cubs than those denning on ice Therefore,
disturbance of land dens a major concern for population health
- Main food source: ringed seals (almost exclusively) Secondary food
sources: bearded seals, beluga whale, walrus, other marine mammals, bird,
vegetation and kelp.
- An adult bear usually eats one seal every six or seven days
- Human caused deaths: bears have died from: eating a car battery, eating
dye used to mark an airstrip near Prudhoe, toxic effects of ingesting oil after
trying to lick fur clean, being shot when approaching oil rigs -- ie: during a
5 year study in Canada, 4 bears were shot to death 33 bears were killed over a
10 year period at oil and military installations in the Northwest Territories,
a bear was shot in 1990 in Camden Bay while approaching a rig.
- Go get BP: In 1985, Fish and Wildlife noted that seismic support traffic
along the Arctic Refuge coast near Camden Bay caused a female bear to abandon
her den.
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